XCOM: Mass Effect
by Potatofanfiction
Summary: Humanity has successfully destroyed ADVENT and the Elders. As humanity rejoices, the newly formed Union looks to the stars. It is unavoidable, then, that the Union, newly born from the embers of conflict would eventually meet with the Citadel.
1. Chapter 1

XCOM: Mass Effect

Synopsis: Humanity has successfully destroyed ADVENT and the Elders. As humanity rejoices, the newly formed Union looks to the stars. It is unavoidable, then, that the Union would eventually meet with the Citadel.

Chapter 1: Timeline

March 2015: Humanity is attacked by extraterrestrial life forms known as the Elders. The XCOM Project is initiated by the Council.

November 2015: After a bloody and fruitless 8-month campaign against the invaders, the Council surrenders and betrays XCOM, which leads to a siege on the XCOM base. The base is completely destroyed and all research in alien technology is lost. The Commander, Doctor Vahlen and several other personnel go missing. However, several researchers and engineers escape, with Dr. Raymond Shen amongst them. Only the Spokesman, a mysterious Council member, remains loyal and becomes a mole in ADVENT. The short-lived First Contact War ends.

December 2015: Now under the control of the aliens, the aliens form the ADVENT Coalition and assumes the position of Earth's government. While seemingly benevolent, they carry out subversive activities against people in the know of their activities and secretly abduct civilians in the Avatar Project.

February 2016: The Resistance is formed, and XCOM captures an alien supply craft, which is converted into their mobile base. 3 weeks later, Raymond Shen dies and his daughter Lily Shen takes over the Engineering department of XCOM.

October 2016: The systems aboard the mobile base, now named the Avenger, is successfully modified for XCOM's use. The onboard Elerium Core goes online and the ship has an independent power source. XCOM begins recruiting soldiers, engineers and research staff. The Skyranger is rebuilt using alien technology to increase its efficiency.

June 2017: Dr. Richard Tygan, disillusioned with ADVENT, escapes the ADVENT controlled cities and is recruited by XCOM.

March 2035: The Commander is tracked to an ADVENT facility, which is attacked by XCOM, and they successfully escape with the Commander. It is also revealed that ADVENT has a psionic network for data exchange between soldiers and that the Commander had been used as a battle simulator when connected to the network due to his great strategic skill. The Avatar Project is revealed to XCOM, but its contents remains mostly mysterious.

December 2035: The first Psi Lab is built on the Avenger and is used to test for soldiers with Psionic potential.

February 2036: The first Psi Operative, Yui Tachibana, is discovered.

August 2036: During an attack on an ADVENT facility to stall the completion of the Avatar Project, the soldiers encounter a prototype Avatar. After much difficulty, the Avatar is killed and is transported back to the Avenger.

March 2037: At this point in time, there are 5 other Psi Operatives.

April 2038: Through the raid on an ADVENT facility, Tygan and Shen recover sufficient data to conclude that the Elders, the leaders of ADVENT, have been slowly dying from an irreversible physical degeneration of their bodies. In order to escape their imminent demise, the Elders started the Avatar Project, which involves processing kidnapped humans and turning them into raw material to build new bodies for themselves, called Avatars.

December 2038: The Avenger's systems are disrupted by an ADVENT craft. XCOM soldiers fight off all hostile forces and escape onboard the Avenger.

May 2039: Tygan and Shen track the Elders' headquarters to an underwater base, accessible only by a special psionic portal. With their hand forced, ADVENT decides to accelerate the project and process all "non-essential" humans into the Avatar project, under the guise of curing all disease at their gene clinics.

September 2039: The Spokesman sacrifices himself to warn XCOM about the plan, ordering them to hijack ADVENT's global communication network before they can make the announcement. XCOM manages to hack the network and transmits proof of ADVENT's crimes to the entire world, causing a mass global revolution. The Elder Revolution begins.

December 2039: With ADVENT busy trying to maintain order, XCOM successfully clones their own Avatar, under the control of the Commander, and stages a raid on the Elder headquarters. The Elders plead with the Commander to stop the fighting and rejoin them, claiming that they are only trying to strengthen themselves and humanity against a greater threat. The Commander ignores the Elders' pleas and destroys all of their Avatars, triggering the destruction of the base. The Commander's Avatar stays behind to battle the enraged spirits of the Elders as the rest of the squad escapes.

February 2041: Humanity destroys ADVENT with the assistance of XCOM. Remaining ADVENT forces are secretly executed by XCOM en masse, and their corpses are scrapped for materials and are incinerated. The Elder War ends.

March 2042: The Union is created and acts as Earth's government. XCOM becomes the Union's main military force and becomes a primary response force towards hostile alien forces and to enforce law on Earth. Rebuilding commences.

July 2044: Humanity uses alien UFO designs to create their own aircraft, the Firestorm. Variants are created for special purposes. Tygan wins the Nobel Prize for the discovery of the contents of both Elerium and Alien Alloys, now named Vahlenite to honour the missing Dr. Vahlen. Rebuilding is at 50% completion. Artificial gravity is discovered and the technology onboard alien ships and ADVENT facilities is shown to be capable of FTL by warping space and time to form wormholes to travel extremely long distances. However, this is considered to be unfeasible due to the energy cost of such a device. Such devices are known as Bridge Drives.

April 2046: Rebuilding of Earth is completed.

May 2061: Humanity reaches the moon and discovers the ADVENT remnants and a still-alive elder in an Avatar. The Union announces a state of emergency and the moon becomes a battlefield. The Battle for Luna commences.

December 2062: The moon is recaptured and all corpses and alive ADVENT forces are taken in for experimentation. Several missing humans are discovered, such as Dr. Vahlen and several prominent scientists. The original, unmodified variants of the invading force is discovered and cryogenically unfrozen. The moon is renamed Luna and a military installation is built and is called Lunar Base Alpha. Construction of a Union military fleet begins at the shipyard of Lunar Base Alpha. Ships are grouped into different ship classes. Research into more efficient and cheaper Elerium Cores begin.

August 2070: After a long and tedious experimentation period, a translator was formed with the help of Yui Tachibana and several other Psi Operatives. The aliens reveal that their worlds were conquered and they were forced into servitude with Psionic control by the Elders. Sectoids are known as good engineers, and the Mutons' strength allows them to aid in the construction of new Union facilities and spacecraft. Cyberdiscs and drones, prototypes to Gatekeepers, become programmers and are regular sights in Union intelligence task forces. They are integrated into human society with little to no trouble.

September 2075: Dr. Richard Tygan passes away and a memorial is erected. The Tygan Institute of Science is formed. Later this year, they use Andromedon and ADVENT MEC designs to create combat drones, driven by AIs, which are designed by Cyberdiscs. Andromedons no longer require coolant are are heavily armoured, whereas MECs now have plasma cannons.

June 2089: The GREMLIN MK XIV is developed, with a new processor that can process a few hundred terabytes per second, much to the delight of Specialist-class soldiers. The new GREMLIN have a small plasma pistol attached. Research into cores is completed, and all Union ships are outfitted with Bridge Drives.

May 2089: In a Union project, a Cyberdisc and several humans create code and integrate it into a GREMLIN, which causes it to become sentient, making it a true Artificial Intelligence. Public opinion is unexpectedly positive, and the GREMLINs are subjected to the Right of Sentient Entities Act, which gives civil rights to all sentient entities.

April 2091: As 80% of the population is Psionic, the results of a Union research project on Psionics is released publicly. It is revealed that Psionics live twice as long as normal humans. This revelation enforces the concept that Psionics are humans that are on a higher level of evolution.

July 2091: When a Union _Avenger-class_ craft, the _Architect_ lands on Mars, they discover an alien base. XCOM mobilises, but the base is found to be completely empty. Scientists scavenge the base for technology and data. However, the technology and architecture of the base is completely non-Elder, which leads the scientists to believe that the now-termed Protheans, were ignored by the Elders due to their military strength, as evidenced by several star maps discovered on the base. The technology is based off a substance known as Element Zero as it has zero mass. The passing of an electric current through it allows it to release dark energy which can be manipulated into a mass effect field, a phenomenon that can raise or lower the mass of all objects within that field. A positive current increases mass, a negative current decreases it. This "mass effect" can be used in countless ways, from generating artificial gravity to manufacturing high-strength construction materials. However, they are thought to be unnecessary as FTL drives already exist. The possibility of time dilation with the use of FTL Element Zero drives whereas the instantaneous nature of Bridge Drives make Bridge Drives a better option.

May 2100: Mars and Luna now have thriving human cities, and a project to terraform Mars begins.

August 2109: A human science team exploring the edge of the system near Pluto discovered that Charon was not a moon at all, but an enormous piece of ancient technology known as a mass relay that had been used by the Protheans. The discovery was not completely surprising, however, since the Prothean ruins found on Mars in 2091 had mentioned such a device. While the scientific theory behind the creation of mass relays was still beyond humanity's reach at the time, scientists were able to reactivate the dormant relay.

Exploratory probes sent through the Charon Relay immediately dropped out of contact, and it was determined that the only way to learn what was on the relay's other side was to send actual explorers through and as it was unable to determine the distance, Bridge Drives were unusable. Led by Jon Grissom, a team of brave men and women willing to risk their lives traveled through the relay, and discovered that it led to Arcturus. Their successful return made them heroes, and humanity entered a new age of unparalleled discovery and expansion. The Charon Relay, however, is rendered unnecessary as the estimated distance between Charon and Arcturus was calculated, and can now be accessible via Bridge Drives.

April 2140: The Tygan Institute of Science sends several ships into a nearby Mass Relay to further experiment with a Element Zero. However, they accidentally trigger the relay and appear near another relay. They are mysteriously destroyed and the Second Contact War begins.

Edit: I modified some of the typos I've made.


	2. A So-called Second Contact

"Tell me **everything** , Commander."

Major Hackett's voice, a normally benevolent and pleasant sound, had twisted into a low growl, frustration clearly written on his face.

His annoyance wafted through the air like the stench from a corpse of a freshly killed Faceless, or the Thin Men of the First War.

The Commander sighed, static rushing across the comms.

The voice was resigned and tinged with fear. "The team researching the relay sent a 'X-Ray inbound' signal before we lost contact with the ship. The 5th fleet is already at the relay they passed through, and they're waiting for orders. Your group will be needed for recon and hacking, and if possible, peaceful-"

"Sir, they attacked us! They attacked a defenceless cruiser!"

"I know, Hackett! We all want to turn this upstart piece of alien shit into scrap, but humanity has been at peace for so long! If we go in gung-ho, guns blazing like fucking recruits, we'll be fighting again! Humanity hasn't recovered from ADVENT and the goddamn Elders, I WAS THERE!"

Hackett stared up at the holographic black monolith labeled with an ominous "SUPREME COMMANDER, SOUND ONLY". For security purposes, the Supreme Commander of XCOM never appeared in person, always a nameless, faceless black monolith. When Hackett first 'met' the Commander at a military meeting, he had thought that the black monolith was comical, stupid even.

He could even remember himself saying, "What is this? A kids' TV show? What's next, giant robots fighting giant abominations?"

As time passed, though, and the amount of time spent around the monolith had increased, it had become less comical, less of a joke, but rather a stern and imposing figure signifying the Supreme Commander's might. It was just like a tall, unbreakable wall; exactly like the army he commanded.

"Understood, Commander. I apologise for my earlier actions."

The Commander made a gruff sound of agreement. "The other advantage we'll gain from this is that we can open fire on them mercilessly and blow them to pieces and have the excuse that they fired first and we attempted peaceful reconciliation." On that grim note, the hologram winked out of existence with a purple flash.

 _Brilliant._

[Line Break]

Hackett's footsteps echoed through the near-empty corridors of the ship. Engineers passed by in groups with the occasional Cyberdisc, accompanied with its squadron of drones. The only other sound was the low hum of the Elerium Cores below his feet.

Looking back now, Hackett could see the truth behind the Commander's words.

Even though humanity had left ADVENT behind in the previous century, the scars of their authoritarian regime still ran deep. There was an underlying fear of the alien species that had integrated into human society, even if it had been shown that they had been acting under the control of the Elders.

Hackett walked briskly into the room across the corridor, passing by a group of crawling sectoids. They were short and large-eyed, with a disproportionately large head that was almost comical, Hackett thought dispassionately. They were different from the sectoids of the ADVENT regime, who were tall, beady-eyed and disturbingly human-like.

The room was the size of a football field, and was filled with human troopers, who snapped to attention upon Hackett's entrance.

Hackett cleared his throat noisily and spoke out, "I'm sure you've all heard of the alien attack on the Tygan Institute ship. If they're such big warmongers that they'll attack peaceful research ships, we'll just have to put the rabid fuckers down. They want a fight, we give them one!"

The troopers roared their approval.

"However, the Commander wanted us to try and use peacefully approach them first. That way, we can still blow them to pieces and have the excuse that 'they fired first'."

The troopers cheered, though this time with much less enthusiasm. The thought of having to peacefully deal with hostile X-Rays was frustrating, to say the least.

"XCOM is humanity's first line of defence and we have protected Earth from the Elders and ADVENT. They are the weapons and armour of Humanity, and shall always be. We will not surrender and we will defeat the aliens no matter what! Vigilo Confido!"

"Vigilo Confido!"

[Line Break]

 _I won't let these things beat us without a fight_ , Hackett couldn't help but think, as the Bridge Drives deactivated with a sharp whine and the supercarrier O'Connor landed at the destruction point of the research ship and prepared for hostile contact with a new alien force.

"Sensors are at maximum efficiency. Heat levels are within acceptable parameters..."

A Cyberdisc reported on the ship status with its synthetic voice while its fleet of drones flew around the bridge, manning open control panels.

A Psi Operative linked her mind to the Hyperwave Relay in the belly of the O'Connor and projected her psionic energy across the vacuum of outer space. Hyperwave Relays were long-distance psionic transmitters/receivers, developed from Elder technology. They were theorised to be the reason why Elders were able to retain control over thousands of soldiers and aliens.

"They're picking through the wreckage, sir," she reported through the comms.

Hackett scowled fiercely and felt white-hot rage bubble up in his chest. So they're not above desecrating corpses, are they? I'll have the scientists dissecting their mangled corpses.

"Give me an estimate on size, Operative."

"Erm, they're about...200 meters long?" Surprise and disbelief coated her voice. "That's the largest. The smaller ones barely clear 100 meters."

"What." That was a...surprise. They'd thought that they're be going up against kilometre-length warships, not some pathetic patrol ships. A laugh rippled across the bridge, all tension gone. _Looks like this'll be a curbstomp. I almost feel bad for them. Almost._

Shaking his head, Hackett called out, "Dr. Johnson, what do the long-range scanners say?"

Dr. Johnson, chief scientist aboard the O'Connor, stood up from his seat and said, "Element Zero density high. Nothing Elder. No Psionics, no Elerium. Hard to say what kind of race. Architecture to different to be Prothean. Underusing Element Zero potential, energy usage inefficient. Possibly reengineered Prothean tech. To small to match up Prothean design. Possible MAC use."

Hackett nodded slowly. Another species that had discovered Prothean technology, and had tried to reinvent it, only to fall short and have wildly inefficient tech? A mystery for another day. _The good news is that the Elders hadn't attacked them, which means their tech would be less inefficient than ours._

"Sir! The alien fleet is moving in the direction of the Relay!"

 _Presumptuous aliens._ Hackett thought with a sneer. _We can't have that happening now, can we? Don't you know what happens to intruders? Wouldn't you like to know?_

"Get all the Skyrangers out. Send the Specialist teams to get access to their network. Other teams are to suppress all signals and activate Ghost mode to maintain concealment. I want all combat ships to form a net around the relay. Nothing will get through."

"Yes sir!"

[Line Break]

Lieutenant Winchester was annoyed.

He'd been hyped for battle upon the Major's speech, and he was ready to kick alien ass, gripping his CPL-9 plasma rifle so hard his knuckles turned white. Unfortunately for his squad, they had been stuck in a Skyranger for almost half an hour now, with no commands for deployment or an other action. It had gotten so dull that even their, GREMLIN, had begun flying in circles. He knew it did it to annoy him, and annoy him it did.

"What's the damn brass doing..."

He shifted his shoulders wearily, the WAR suit servos whining as they adjusted to his new movement.

One of the many specialised teams on the O'Connor, they were a team of Specialists, equipped with a GREMLIN and a Cyberdisc, along with its squadron of drones. Well-versed in hacking and decryption, the team was a powerful asset and a potent threat to all mechanical units they'd meet in the field.

Just when Winchester was going to try taking a nap in the WAR suit, the Skyranger comm crackled and all the dozing team members blinked and looked up.

The comm system aboard the ship buzzed to life, a GREMLIN AI speaking into the system.

"All personnel, this is your announcer speaking. Combatants are to report with your appropriate weaponry to your respective Skyrangers. We'll be joining the 5th fleet at the destruction point. Suppressing energy levels to prevent detection. MECs and Mutons report to Skyranger 2,7..."

The comms cut off and the AI pilot took over in briefing the squad.

"This is your pilot speaking, we'll be flying in concealed to access the X-Ray's network. We'll be doing covert hacking, no firing allowed. Yet. It'll be a good challenge..."

Winchester grinned savagely, his teeth bared in anticipation.

An unknown alien system with a different computing system. This'll be interesting.

"...but we all know that you are one of the Union's best, and this would be peanuts in comparison to the harder exercises Specialist training puts you through."

 _Damn straight you're right._

[Line Break]

The bridge of the THS _Watchful_ was a small hub of activity, the cacophony of talking Turians filling up the room. Engineers walked in and out and computer systems beeped.

The discovery of a new, unknown race was rather unsettling, to say the least. However, the potential outcomes and rewards of a such a discovery - it was unimaginable. Speculation and rumours were rife in the ranks of the _Watchful_ of the new species. From outlandish beings to rouge AIs, the possibilities were endless, and there were none the crew did not discuss.

Granted, the creatures had flaunted Citadel rule and had activated a Relay, an act rendered illegal by the Rachni Wars. They simply couldn't risk another event as catastrophic as that from occurring again. The defeat of the Rachni was a Pyrrhic victory - the Krogan had to be uplifted, and look how well THAT turned out.

"The lack of Element Zero is key to understanding them," even the bridge, head of command in Turian ships, normally strictly controlled areas, were not safe from the rumours circulating on the ship on the fallen ships' origins. An excited tech continued after a pause, seemingly thinking about such a civilisation. "They could simply be a new spacefaring species, new to traveling across their system in minutes. Who knows, maybe this is the first time they've discovered tech on this level! Would explain the odd lack of weapons or flight systems."

Another one rolled his eyes and said, "Shut the hell up, you've been talking for an hour straight. Don't you remember the one time you were spewing bullshit about rogue AIs? That one was pretty stupid."

"Yeah, but wouldn't that be cool? What if they're trying to wipe out all sentient lifeforms and assimilate them and they saying, 'Resistance is futile, beep boop.'"

"Still, those odd energy readings were surprising. Such a small ship with such a large power source? Even those Salarians can't fit power generators into a space that small, and these greenhorns with no idea what is Element Zero can do that?"

Another tech simply grinned wryly, "Any of that can be true, and if you two would stop talking and do your job, maybe you'll realise that we are all asking the same questions. After all, haven't we been talking about the same Spirits-cursed things about these aliens after we blew them up?"

The original speaker waved his hands and his mandibles flared, as if to retort wittily but he simply couldn't think of a counter-argument. His partner sighed in relief. "Finally. Now stay that way." As if one cue, a holographic screen beeped and flashed at that moment. "Sir, salvage teams report few intact samples. Dragging what they found aboard now."

"Excellent work, all of you." the Captain Darnian hovered behind the three techs, his mandibles shifting into a smile. "Today was an unexpectedly fruitful day. Once we get these back to Palaven, we'll all be in for promotions and commendations. Any progress in determining the location of the alien planet?"

"Not yet sir," the first Turian spoke. "VIs still-" A loud and abrasive tone cut in, "No they aren't." The screen flickered before every screen on the bridge was replaced with the image of an oddly asari-like creature.

"Who is this? What have you done?" The Captain thundered, his voice shaking with rage and contempt.

"Ohh, right, forgot the introduction. My name is Specialist Winchester, and I belong to the race whose ship you just blew up. I know that you may be pissed that someone borrowed your toy, but melting them in hellfire is just rude. My team intercepted your signals and hacked into your ship's main processors. We made a suitable translator and took control of your ship. Similar things are happening to the other ships in the fleet." The speaker grinned with satisfaction, his teeth bared in insolence.

"Y...you! How dare you do this! You were breaking Citadel law, and you dare to attack your superiors? Respect you betters, alien!"

"So you can't be persuaded to leave peacefully?"

"We are Turians, what could a puny spacefaring race possibly do to us? Surrendering is for cowards and weaklings!"

The alien made a 'hum' sound thoughtfully and said, "Gremlin, record that and send that to the brass. So you won't mind if we attack? We don't people who shoot first and ask questions later."

"Go ahead, _alien_." The word dripped with contempt and dislike, and it was spoken like a vulgarity. "We await your challenge. We will enforce Citadel law and teach you lawbreakers about being obedient."

"No can do, _sir_. We just got ordered to engage. Prepare for complete annihilation." The alien smiled mockingly.

The screen flickered before the ship died, systems failing left and right.

"Ensign! What happened?" Darnian yelled.

I don't know, sir! We just lost control of the systems to the aliens. They've reached the power generator, and they've overridden my safeties! All of them.

We lost life support on Sector 7, Captain! The weapons systems are powering down. Manual override in 3, 2-"

[Line Break]

Somewhere in space, a GREMLIN felt schadenfreude wash across his circuits. Manual overrides were a pain in his metaphorical ass, but they were meant for wrestling control away from a third party in a system that hadn't been completely overtaken yet.

Key phrases being hadn't been completely overtaken and yet.

Both didn't apply.

:ACCESS POINT ACQUIRED_

:EXPLOTING FOREIGN CODE_

:QUERY: SYS Shut down POWER and revert to AUXILIARY power?_

Y/N

/COMMAND Y

[Line Break]

"-1!"

The ship power generators shut down, life support and computer systems failing to exist.

The act repeated itself across the 5 other Turian ships.

Darnian bowed his head, his head in his hands.

"Spirits, what have I done?"

[Line Break]

Cheers erupted across the bridge, tinged with bloodlust and exultation at the first strike.

Hackett tented his fingers, his smirk hidden by his gloves.

Humanity had managed to shipwreck down the ships and the Council had authorised a full-out assault. What could possibly be better? Oh right, blowing their ships up, but the Council had direct orders to leave the ships as untouched as possible. He stood up and announced, "All ships, we are authorised for an assault. I repeat, we have been authorised for an assault. Our Specialists have turned their ships into sitting ducks, all enemy ship-based weapons systems have been disabled. All Skyrangers are to deploy. Firestorms are to patrol and alert us on any moving objects. Keep an eye out for activity."

The war had begun.

[Line Break]

"Verbal reports coming in. All instances report successful forced entry. I repeat, forced entry on X-Ray ship 1 through 5 is successful. Live feed coming through now on all troops."

Data pads and holographic screens exploded in a burst of information, sound files and video feeds flickering past in a cacophony of sound and images.

Johnson's eyes darted across the screen, frantically selecting specific video feeds across the sea of data.

"What do you make of this, Doctor?" A tech asked.

There was a pause as Johnson made an odd throaty noise before selecting a specific feed from the cloud of open programs on the screen. The feed showed a group of soldiers gunning down an alien with a sea of plasma, a transparent field appearing in front of the alien briefly before the alien fell over screaming.

"Alien could be reptile or avian. Hard to say. Dissection necessary. Vivisection nice, but not required." Hackett felt himself shiver at the doctor's almost giddy grin and casual mention of vivisection. "Tech is...weak. All Element Zero based, fires projectiles from mass effect fields. Ineffective against Vahlenite armour. Field appears to be shield, stopping kinetic strikes. Mastery of Element Zero on infantry level...disturbing. However, remaining aspects unimpressive."

"So...?"

"Plasma weapons overkill. Highly effective. Shields reduce velocity of incoming projectile. Rendered ineffective by plasma heat. Look here," the scientist said before pointing to the corpses of several dead aliens. "Burn marks, more severe that 3rd degree. Corpse with minimal damage required for dissection. Burnt corpses hard to study." The scientist looked delirious with joy. "So much to learn, to study. Can't wait."

"I'll ask the Psi Operatives to mind-control one. Does that count as an intact sample?"

"Close enough."

[Line Break]

Captain Darnian of the _Watchful_ was terrified, more so than he'd ever been. The aliens had immobilised the whole fleet and were butchering everything on the ship.

The camera feed of charred Turians and the sight of blood splattered across the walls was nauseating, with many techs emptying the contents of their stomachs across the once pristine floors of the bridge.

One by one, patrol groups across the Watchful had gone offline, and the last one had the time to squeeze in two screams before a weapon whined in the background and the com had been filled with static. In other words: they were the last one left, and there was only so much time that they could hold out for. The whole ship's self-defence mechanisms had been shit down earlier by that grinning alien. Even now, the alien's words resonated in his mind:

 _Prepare for complete annihilation._

The words had chilled him to the core, the smile on the alien's face one of mocking and contempt. Privately, he was unsure of their victory, and was regretting attacking the new species.

Turians clutched rifles with unsteady talons and huddled behind the defunct computers. Darnian had arranged the crew in the best defensive arrangement possible, but despite Citadel rumours, Turians didn't exactly design everything on a ship for war. The bridge was large, open and cramped, exactly like a strategist's worst nightmare. Cover was easily destructible and was scarce. Fear, thick and cloying, surrounded them like a heavy rain cloud, so much so that it was suffocating to be in the bridge. "Men, it is clear that we won't be leaving the ship alive." Nice way to start a rallying speech, a voice at the back of Darnian's head snarked, "But! We will not surrender, and we will continue fighting until they all die or we do! We have defended Citadel space and we might die, but we will not be beaten."

Ragged and unenthusiastic cheer rang out across the crew. Nobody really believed that they couldn't be defeated. The aliens had brought down their electronic defence in a few seconds, the cutting-edge encryption falling apart instantly, like a primitive wooden treehouse in a gale-force wind. It was pretty traumatising to have all your power removed from you in a second. Honestly, Darnian had no confidence in the speech working and had been on autopilot from he first spoke.

Darnian opened his mouth and was going to try again but he was interrupted by a solid thud on the doors. It was a few moments before there was an odd crackling sound and the door simply exploded in purple light.

"Your existence is null."

Alien soldiers charged in with weapons that glowed sickly green. Recognising the danger, a tech screamed, "Fire!" And the air was saturated with projectiles, forcing the aliens to be pinned in place. Suddenly, a purple flare erupted from the aliens before surrounding Darnian in an ominous purple sphere. "Wh-What the f-fuck is this?!" He yelled, the sphere forcing him onto his knees. He couldn't breathe!

An alien barked out an order and pointed at the centre of the bridge. Shortly after, a blue drone flew in amongst the rifle fire, dodging all of it before releasing approximately half a gigawatt of electricity, executing five unfortunate Turians. They suddenly collapsed, screaming and frothing at the mouth.

"Fucking monsters!" A tech screamed and waved his gun at the aliens. Sparks flashed across the metal walls as the black-armoured soldier ran out of cover and weaved in and out of gunfire expertly before cleaving the tech in half with a bright blue blade, the tech's screams drowned out by the sound of gunfire.

Another alien simultaneously levelled his gun, a hulking monstrosity that glowed green and rotated ominously. "GET ON YOUR STOMACHS!" An officer screamed. Darnian followed his instinct and flattened himself on the ground just as the gun spewed greenish hellfire rapidly, burning through cover and shredding Turian flesh, slamming into a hapless Turian comm officer. The screams were punctuated with the whine of alien gunfire and the sizzle of burnt carapace.

Another alien pointed a long rifle and fired, the head of a Turian turning into faint blue mist, his rigid body collapsing in shock. Another alien lobbed a grenade, the container releasing a sinister dark green fluid, splashing across a console, a Turian screaming as his flesh dissolved and his skin melted.

Even worse still, the aliens had deployed what appeared to be a large metal disk, which had flown in before it shockingly transformed into a somewhat insectoid shape, revealing a large cannon that vaporised a screaming tech.

"You assholes! GO TO HELL!"

A well placed shot punctured an alien leg, the alien screaming as he fell, the rifle clattering uselessly on the ground. A satisfyingly large pool of blood formed, the alien's screams decreasing in volume until it stopped moving.

 _Yes! We hurt one of them! They can be killed!_

Alas, it was all for naught, as an alien machine stomped in, its huge gun making short work of the remains Turian forces. _There goes the rest of the infantry_ , Darnian couldn't help but think, as aliens swarmed the room, searching for any survivors.

Darnian struggled to break free of the sphere's hold on him, to no avail. An alien, clothed in white armour walked in front of him, the white fur on its head swishing from side to side. It crouched in front of him, a look of disgust and hatred clearly written on its face. Darnian looked up from the floor to say some proud final words, to show these primitives that the Hierarchy woul-

The alien grabbed his head, forcing him to stare into the glowing purple eyes. In that moment, the being known as Darnian was non-existent, now a thrall of the human, the strand of purple psionic energy linking the two minds. The link was one-way, mind you, and the Turian was now nothing more than a puppet. Now under the control of a human, the Psi Operative smirked and dismissed the sphere holding him down.

"I've mind-controlled the leader, Central. I've got a _live sample_."

The fight had ended in a mere two minutes.

 **Phew! That was some writing, easily the hardest I've ever done. I need as much constructive feedback as possible. After this, I'll be writing something else, so don't expect this to update too frequently. Also, the notes app on Apple does that, huh? I'm not going to do that again. Also, what do you think of Darnian? I tried my hand at making a Turian name. Give me your opinions.**


End file.
